Improvement in paddle-wheels



Jenn W, roer, or o AsrILE, PENNsvLvl-rivin.y

Letters Patent No. 108,626, dated October 2.5, 1870 antedated Octoberll, 1870.

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IMPROVEMENT lN PADDLE-WHEELS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and makingpart of the same To all whom. it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN W. POST, of Castile, m the county of Wyoming and State of 4Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement iu Paddle-Wheels; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full and correct description of the same, suficient t-'o enable others skilled in the art to which my invention appertains to fully understand and construct the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing which makes part of this speeiiieation, and in whichl Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved paddlewheel.

Figure 2 is a vertical central cross-section of the same.

Figure 3 is a view showing the way or grooves in which the rollers guiding the paddles move. d1 Figure 4 is a perspective view of one of the pad-- Like letters of reference indicate like parts in the several iignres.

The nature oi' my invention consists in providing one of the ends ot' the paddle-shafts, outside oi' the wheel-arms, with a double roller-arm, secured at right angles tothe width of the paddle, the rollers oi' which arm move in grooves or ways, so arranged that at least one of the rollers is continually held between` two parts of the groove or way, in such. a manner-as to give irmness to the paddle, in whatever position, in or out of the water, it may be, at the same time giving it the requisite feather.

The great advantageobtained vby my device is, that no depressions or projections in the' groove or way present themselves to the rollers over which the latter have to be forced, thereby creating great friction, and consequent loss of power.

By my' arrangement I alsodo away with unnecessary leverage and complication.

A may represent the side of a vessel, to which a frame, B, is secured, in which,` at b, is the outer bearing ofthe paddle-wheel shaft C.

The paddle-,wheel consists of a double series of arms, D E, between which are pivoted the paddles 19,' their shafts, L passing through the arms I) E, near their-'outer ends, and being provided, between the arms E and the side of the vessel, with a double arm, a, carrying inwardly-projecting rollers, r fr', one

at each end.

This arm a is formed o1' otherwise secured on the shafts f, at right angles to the width of the paddles,

f audits ends terminate in points, a.

In fig. 3, I have shownthe groove or way in which the rollers rr r' move to operate the feathering of and to steadily hold the paddles.

The main groove or way, lw, is traversed, during v each revolution of the wheel, byone of the rollers, while the other roller traverses the distance outside of the way or groove, and effects the changes through the additional way-pieces m, 1l, and q.

rlhe way w is formed by a continuons piece,- e,

open only at the top, and another continuous piece, sv,4 open below, and provided at veach end with an outwardly-extendin g way-piece, q, which, with the additional separate way-piece jp, forms an' 'additional groove, y, the same being, so to speak, tangentialto the groove fw.

The continuous piece, x, bulges out at the top,-

and comes to a point, as shown at n., and forms, with a correspondinglyfsbaped piece, m, a groove, z.

I have shown in dotted lines in fig. 3 the course of the two rollers during each revolution, commencing, for illustration, .at the point of intersection.

I will name the` line in groove w 1J, and the other dotted line j.

Supposing the roller fr to follow the line t, and the the roller 'r' the line j, the operation will be as i'ollows:

lVhen roller fr starts from the poiutof intersection, the roller lr is alreadyin groove y, holding the paddle, and both rollers move on, gradually bringing the arm a to a vertical. position. l

v When the point a has entered groove z, it is brought into the point of the groove, and there forms the point for roller lr' to move Aacross the open space, thus giving at the same/ time about a quarter revolution tothe paddle.

Both rollers now move on and, at the point of intersection, the roller fr turns from the groove lw into the groove y, while the roller lr passes from the other end 'of' groove y into the groove w, the arm a having a horizontal position during this movement.

It will be easily seen that,.in each two revolutions of the wheel, `the paddlemakes one complete revolution around its own axis, and that, by the arrangement of the grooves, the paddles are not-only properly feathered, but the paddles held continually iirm and steady by one of the rollers, while the other roller performs the change of positions of the arm and paddle.

v It isv obvious that the grooves w y z may. be formed on the surface of the sides of the vessel by met-al strips secured to the same, but they may be formed by cutting them in the sides of the vessel, and properly lining them.

down the other side,

Hoving thus described my invention, The above specificationof my improvement; in That I claim, and desire to secure by Letters paddle-\\l1eels signed this 29th day of December, Patent, is l 1869.

1. The paddles 11, when provided with-double JOHN W. POST. roller-arms, a, constructed substantially as described, and operating in the grooves u.' y s, for the purposes 'Witnesses substantially as set forth. ItIENRY A. J oHNsTox,

2. The arrangement ofthe grooves 1l' y s, substan- HENRY J. ARETZ. tolly as and for the purposes set forth. 

